Leave It…
Author: Pie President
The President @ The Social Pie Network!
Big Blimp Crash!
On March 3rd, 2025, a U.S. Customs and Border Protection surveillance blimp (a Tethered Aerostat Radar System) broke free from its mooring in South Padre Island due to a severe wind event. The thing went rogue, drifting nearly 600 miles across the state before crashing into power lines in Hunt County, about 30 miles east of Dallas, on March 4th.
This wasn’t just a quiet float away either This event caused some real chaos. The blimp, roughly 200 feet long and filled with helium, got tangled in power lines, knocked out electricity in spots and even damaged a family’s roof on its way down. Locals in Quinlan, where it finally landed, were baffled at first, mistaking it for a hot air balloon or some random tarp.
It took a 60 ton rotator crane and a couple of hours to untangle the mess from the power lines, with federal agents and local fire crews scratching their heads over the whole ordeal.
Free Prom Tickets!
Steve Carell has partnered with the charity Alice’s Kids to provide free prom tickets to high school seniors in Southern California who were impacted by the devastating wildfires in Los Angeles earlier this year.
In a video announcement, Carell shared that the initiative covers students at six high schools in the Pasadena area, ensuring that over 800 seniors can attend their prom at no cost.
This effort, backed by a $175,000 donation from Alice’s Kids, aims to bring some joy to students whose lives were disrupted by the fires, which destroyed over 16,000 structures and claimed at least 29 lives in areas like Pacific Palisades and Altadena.
Carell also mentioned that students who already purchased tickets would be reimbursed, calling it “a pretty good deal.”
All Aboard!
Just a few days ago, on February 28th, 2025, three fishermen (Dean Harrison, Milton Brookland, and Austyn Holbrow) were out on a 16 foot boat near “Hole in the Rock” off New Zealand’s North Island.
They were chasing some kingfish when, out of nowhere, a 900 pound bottlenose dolphin launched itself into the air and crash landed right in their boat. Harrison said it was like “lightning striking” as one second it’s calm, the next there’s a thrashing 11 foot sea mammal snapping every fishing rod and denting the bow.
The trio clung to the sides as the dolphin went berserk, tossing gear everywhere. One guy got a grazed arm, but miraculously, no one (the dolphin included) was seriously hurt.
They couldn’t just toss it back due to its size, so they hosed it down, draped it with a damp All Blacks towel and motored an hour to a boat ramp where conservation folks were waiting.
The dolphin, later named Tohu (Maori for “sign”), got checked out and released back into the water. Boat took a beating, but it didn’t sink. Harrison called it a close call and it could’ve been a lot worse if that 900 pound projectile had landed differently.
The DVD Is Dead?
Did the DVD business take a final bow in 2024?
According to the Digital Entertainment Group’s year end report, physical disc sales in the U.S. dropped to $959.6 million. This is down 23% from 2023’s $1.3 billion and a whopping 94% slide from the glory days of $16.6 billion in 2006.
Streaming’s the king now, with SVOD raking in $52 billion last year, while physical media’s just 1.6% of the $57 billion home entertainment pie. The decline’s been a slow bleed since Netflix went streaming in 2007 but 2024 was the nail in the coffin. Best Buy bailed on discs, Target scaled back and the Redbox kiosks got liquidated. Even Netflix ditched its rental roots.
Still, there’s a flicker of life. Blu-ray and 4K UHD sales are holding steady or creeping up for collectors. We’re talking steelbook editions and boutique labels like Criterion.
It’s not a comeback but more like a vinyl style niche for the die hards. The future? Probably more of that, as streaming gets pricier and less reliable. There are more titles vanishing and the ads creeping in. Physical media might just hang on as a rebellion against the digital churn.
Get Fired Up!
There’s a huge buzz around Costco’s release of their Butter Sugar Cookies with Sprinkles, which fans are calling a dupe for Crumbl’s popular Confetti Sugar Cookie!
This news broke yesterday, March 5th, 2025, and it’s already got people talking. Costco’s bakery dropped these cookies, and they’re being compared to Crumbl’s soft, slightly underbaked treats because of their similar texture and sprinkle topped vibe.
Fans on social media are losing it, with some saying they’ve already devoured them and others joking about their diets taking a hit. One person even suggested sandwiching Kirkland vanilla ice cream between two of these bad boys, which sounds like a game changer. Another tip floating around is that they freeze well and still taste great cold. Costco’s clearly not messing around with this one and it’s got Crumbl fans curious if it’s a legit rival.
It’s Cheezotard!
A Flamin’ Hot Cheeto, nicknamed “Cheetozard” for its resemblance to the Pokémon Charizard, sold for $87,840 at an auction run by Goldin on March 2nd, 2025. It started with a modest $250 bid back on February 10th, but after 60 bids, it skyrocketed to a winning bid of $72,000—plus a 22% buyer’s premium that bumped it up to the final price.
This 3 inch spicy snack, preserved and mounted on a custom Pokémon card in a clear storage box, was originally found by 1st & Goal Collectibles in Georgia sometime between 2018 and 2022. It went viral on social media in 2024, which clearly fueled the bidding frenzy. People are nuts for Pokémon nostalgia—and apparently for oddly shaped snacks too!
Music History Thursday!
The Year: 2000
Eric Clapton is inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, making him the first person inducted three times. He is also in as a member of The Yardbirds and Cream.
Bonus Slice +++
The Year: 1982
Beauty and the Beat hits #1 in America, making The Go-Go’s the first all girl band with a #1 album.
Do You Remember?
On March 5, 1963, the world of country music was struck by an unimaginable loss. A small plane carrying three of the genre’s brightest stars (Patsy Cline, Cowboy Copas, and Hawkshaw Hawkins) crashed into a wooded hillside near Camden, Tennessee, ending their lives and leaving an indelible mark on the history of American music. Alongside them perished their pilot and manager, Randy Hughes. Today, more than six decades later, we look back on that fateful day, the lives lost and the legacies that endure.
The tragedy unfolded after a benefit concert in Kansas City, Kansas, where Cline, Copas, and Hawkins had performed to raise funds for the family of a local DJ, “Cactus” Jack Call, who had recently died in a car accident. The stars were on their way back to Nashville, a hub of country music and their home base, when disaster struck. Randy Hughes, an experienced pilot and Copas’s son in law, was at the controls of the single engine Piper Comanche. Despite warnings of inclement weather, Hughes decided to take off, hoping to outrun the storm.
The flight began uneventfully, but as they approached Tennessee, conditions deteriorated. Heavy rain and turbulence battered the small aircraft. Hughes, lacking instrument training for flying in such conditions, attempted to navigate visually. This turned out to be a fatal miscalculation. At approximately 6:20 p.m., the plane plummeted into a forested area 85 miles west of Nashville, killing all four occupants instantly. There were no survivors and the wreckage was discovered the next morning by a local resident after an extensive search.
Cheese Doodle Day!
Happy National Cheese Doodle Day, snack lovers! Today, March 5th, 2025, we’re raising our orange dusted fingers to salute one of America’s most beloved guilty pleasures: the cheese doodle.
Whether you’re a die hard fan of the puffy variety or swear by the crunchy ones, this quirky holiday gives us all an excuse to indulge in that neon orange goodness and celebrate the simple joy of snack time.
If you’ve never heard the origin story of cheese doodles (and honestly, who hasn’t wondered?), it’s a tale as quirky as the snack itself. Legend has it that cheese doodles were born in the 1930s or 1940s when a Wisconsin company, Flakall Corporation, accidentally stumbled upon them. They were originally making animal feed, but a machine malfunction resulted in puffed up cornmeal coated with cheese. Some genius decided to taste it instead of tossing it, and voilà—cheese doodles entered the world. True or not, it’s a snack origin story for the ages.
Since then, these cheesy puffs have become a staple of vending machines, lunchboxes and late night binge sessions. They’re not gourmet, they’re not health food, but they’ve got a charm that’s hard to resist. National Cheese Doodle Day, celebrated every March 5th, is our chance to honor this accidental icon.
The Social Pie Network! 